The awards were established in 2012 to raise the profile of opera and to recognize the success of those involved in the art form. The awards also raise money for The Opera Awards Foundation which gives out bursaries to aspiring talent in the industry.

During the interval audiences had the opportunity to watch additional short films including interviews with the creative teams and footage of the rehearsal process.

If you missed the screening on the night or are keen to know more about the production, here is another opportunity to see the films:

An introduction to Cavalleria rusticana

Michieletto's new production places both the sense of community and the verismo elements of the opera centre stage. Opening with the whole village coming together to celebrate Easter, the isolation of Mascagni’s heroine Santuzza in the opera is particularly noticeable.

‘Santuzza’s so jealous, just this wave of rage', says Eva-Maria Westbroek of her character's mentality. 'She goes to Lola’s husband and tells him what’s been going on, which is of course the biggest mistake of her life’.

An introduction to Pagliacci

‘Pagliacci opens in a very particular way’ says the director. ‘The prologue is basically saying to the audience that we should take theatre as something real'. This theme carries through both to the play within the play in the second half of Leoncavallo’s opera, and to the dreams and realities of the characters.

Antonio Pappano on Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci

For conductorAntonio Pappano, Mascagni and Leoncavallo’s music is ‘extremely heartfelt’ and quintessentially Southern Italian. In this film he explores both the atmosphere of village life in Southern Italy (the home of his own parents), and the differences of Italian verismo opera

Carlos Acosta's recent Royal Ballet production of Carmenwill be shown on Christmas Day on BBC Four at 7.30pm. Acosta dances the role of Don José alongside Marianela Nuñez as Carmen, and Federico Bonelli as the dashing toreador Escamillo. Darcey Bussell presents what was Acosta's final performance on the Royal Opera House main stage.

Rudolf Nureyev is the subject of Dance to Freedom, a dramatized documentary telling the story of the iconic dancer's defection to the West during the height of the Cold War. The film will be broadcast on 19 December at 8.50pm on BBC Two.

Former Royal Ballet Principal Darcey Bussell presents Darcey's Ballet Heroes on BBC Two on Christmas Day at 8.50pm. The 60-minute documentary sees the 'Strictly Come Dancing' judge explore the history of male dancers in ballet and features Carlos Acosta and former director of The Royal Ballet, Anthony Dowell.

The stream saw key figures of the creative and artistic teams come together to discuss the process of making a new production, and the challenges and rewards of performing these iconic verismo works.

Damiano Michieletto on directing a new production and how he works with singers

‘It’s important not to pretend that you have the truth, that you know everything', said acclaimed Italian director Damiano Michieletto of his role. 'It’s important to have a dialogue with the singers – because in the end, they are on stage, not me… I never show the singer what to do. I think you have to ask for an action, which the singer develops – the body is different, the memory is different, the imagination is different, and so you develop it differently’.

Eva-Maria Westbroek and Carmen Giannattasio on creating character

World-class sopranos Eva-Maria Westbroek and Carmen Giannattasio each star in The Royal Opera’s new production – Westbroek as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, and Giannattasio as Nedda in Pagliacci. Giannattasio described the balance between the director’s influence and her own in a new production as ‘about 50%. I bring my ideas, my gestures, and then I get Damiano’s suggestions. I was thinking of Nedda more as a victim, but Damiano explained how there is all of that, but she’s also very sharp’.

‘The wonderful thing with these verismo operas is that it all comes together, that’s why they’re so powerful’, says Westbroek of the operas’ appeal. ‘The music, the emotion and the timing, they’re all in the same moment. It is all action – that’s why it’s so exciting.’

Both singers enthuse about the opportunity to work in this repertory with Music Director Antonio Pappano, who conducts this run of performances. Westbroek summarized: ‘It’s heaven. He’s the best; we love him. He’s amazing and inspiring; so detailed, so moving and so supportive.’

Paul Wynne Griffiths on conducting verismo operas

Paul Wynne Griffiths, a member of The Royal Opera’s music staff, is working with Pappano on the production and explores the music of these two operas – and how for the conductor ‘in every bar there is a decision to be made’.

He describes some of the specific musical techniques used by composers Mascagni and Leoncavallo: rubato, ‘not playing in tempo but making the music breathe, phrasing it’; portamento, ‘carrying the voice to make a bridge from one note to the next’; and how often the melody is held in the orchestra, while the singers ‘speak’ on a single note. He’s joined by Jette Parker Young ArtistsVlada Borovko and Samuel Dale Johnson, who perform Nedda and Silvio’s duet ‘A quest’ora che imprudenza’ from Pagliacci.

Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will return to the Royal Opera House to sing the role of Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. It's a return she's extremely excited for:

'I think Cavalleria rusticana is one of the most wonderful operas ever written. It's so passionate, real and exciting', she says. 'It has you on the edge of your seat.'

'Santuzza is a woman who's been betrayed by a lover. She then betrays him and it goes horribly wrong. To sing these big duets is just amazing. It's very dramatic.'

2015 is Cavalleria rusticana-filled for Eva-Maria as in the spring she warmed up for her London performances of the opera with a run of a different production in New York:

'I'm really excited to sing Santuzza at the Metropolitan Opera and at Covent Garden. It's really interesting to reinvent yourself with Santuzza in each production. I feel extremely lucky.'

Eva-Maria's last Royal Opera House performances were as Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier — like Cavalleria rusticana, a verismo opera:

'Verismo is my favourite style of opera. I love it so much because it demands a lot of emotion, trying to stay true and giving a lot of yourself. It's less controlled in a way — I can go wild, which I love!'

The relay featured a series of backstage films, including rehearsal footage and interviews with members of the cast and creative team.

If you missed the screening on the night, or just want to find out more about the production, here's another chance to see the films:

An Introduction to Andrea Chénier

'It's a story about real people, real locations in late 18th-century France,' says set designer Robert Jones. 'We begin in a chateaux of a very wealthy aristocratic family cocooned from the outside world. They're surrounded by the finest silver, chandeliers, the finest food and furniture - they're not really aware of what's going on outside; they live in an ivory tower and we're about to see this family fall at the hands of the French Revolution.'

Watch the cast and creative team introduce the opera, and explain why it's a work that they love:

Andrea Chénier Vocal Masterclass with Antonio Pappano

'The qualities of the singer as an actor are exposed [in Andrea Chénier], so I'm constantly working in the rehearsal room to get the singers to fill the silences with their own intensity,' says Antonio Pappano.

'We've been working hard not just to do the music and the melodies, but to make it alive,' says soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek, who sings the role of Maddalena di Coigny.

Watch Pappano work with star singers Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek on the musical elements of Giordano's opera:

Designing Andrea Chénier - Bringing the French Revolution to life

'My brief was really simple - not to produce a concept to design but to make it real,' says production designer Jenny Tiramani. 'People have the right layers of dress and the right articles of clothing. These are not fake theatrical versions of historical dress.'

'We're not allowed to cheat, so that means no automatic poppers to make a quick change easier. All the ribbons and buckles are real. If you have the right costume, you act and interact in the style of the period - it helps enormously when you're slipping into another century,' says tenor Jonas Kaufmann who sings the title role.

Watch the cast and creative team offer an insight into what it takes to design costumes for an authentic period production:

To see more films like these, subscribe to the Royal Opera House YouTube channel:

Poet Andrea Chénier and former aristocrat Maddalena di Coigny fall in love, much to the envy of Carlo Gérard – a servant in Maddalena’s home. However, when Gérard becomes a Revolutionary official, his jealousy threatens not only their happiness, but their lives.

The Story Begins…
Former waitress Anna Nicole leaves her home town of Mexia, Texas, determined to become famous and adored. Breast enlargements and a meeting with an admirer help her to achieve her dream, but she soon discovers that success comes at a terrible price.

Who Was Anna Nicole?Anna Nicole the opera was inspired by the life of Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy and glamour model and actress. At the age of 26 she married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall. He died a year later, and Smith entered into a lengthy battle over her husband’s will with his family. She continued to work as an actress, model and TV personality, but suffered from weight gain and became addicted to prescription drugs. Anna Nicole Smith died of the cumulative effect of prescription drugs on 8 February 2007.

An American DreamMark-Anthony Turnage’s music brilliantly depicts the different stages of Anna Nicole’s life through a wide range of musical styles. These include jazz, blues and music theatre. The score also contains flamboyant coloratura for Anna, dramatic operatic expressionism (including the Act II interlude depicting Anna’s changes of fortune) and passages of heartfelt lyricism, particularly Anna’s aria mourning the death of her son.

Trapped by the MediaRichard Jones’s production highlights the dark humour in Anna Nicole’s story and illustrates the intrusive nature of the media in today’s society. Anna Nicole may think she wants to become famous, but the strange camera monsters and sinister attendants that stalk her as she strives to achieve the ‘American dream’ invade and finally destroy her life.

A Royal Opera CommissionAnna Nicole was commissioned by The Royal Opera, and had its premiere at the Royal Opera House on 17 February 2011. Many of the original cast return for this 2014 revival, including Eva-Maria Westbroek as Anna Nicole. The production was televised, and released as a DVD in August 2011. Anna Nicole has also been performed in Dortmund, and was the last opera to be performed (in Jones’s production) by New York City Opera in 2014.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera Anna Nicole returns to Covent Garden in Autumn 2014, offering audiences another chance to see the composer's operatic take on modern celebrity culture.

'Its an easily dismissable subject but I seem to be attracted to subjects like these because when you explore them you find gems on the way - comedic gems and some universal truths. It's an irresistible story,' says librettist Richard Thomas, who previously co-created Jerry Springer: The Opera. If we've done it right, then we've done a lot of justice to her life.'

'It's a mirror for our society - giving up your privacy and this greed for photos of celebrities, says soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek,' who returns to sing the title role in the 2014/15 Season. 'It shows us that it's very inhuman and horrible.'

'I did a lot of research about Anna as a person,' says Eva-Maria, who returns to sing the title role in the 2014/15 Season. 'The more we saw of her, the more I fell in love with her. She was a lovely girl, especially in the beginning. There are interviews with her and she was so wonderful, attractive, happy and radiant. It felt like a huge risk to take to portray a woman like her.'

Musically, the opera draws on the music of composer Mark-Anthony Turnage's youth:

'I've worked a lot in America and from my early twenties I was a great jazz and soul fan, so a lot of American music has been very much part of my life,' he says. 'It's not just pop and soul - it's also TV music. I realized when I talked to Tony Pappano that we both like Starsky and Hutch, Ironside and Mission: Impossible. In a funny kind of way they've stuck.'

Anna Nicole runs from 11-24 September 2014. General booking opens on 15 July 2014.